ST IGT March 19 Matz @ HOU

[A Boy Named Seo]

Matz this spring: 10.80 ERA, 10 IP, 14 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 8 BB, 8 K.

Congrats on the 5th starter job!

[Guest d'Kong76]

Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Yoenis Cespedes, LF
Jay Bruce, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Todd Frazier, 3B
Kevin Plawecki, C
Phillip Evans, DH
Juan Lagares, CF
Luis Guillorme, SS

George Springer, RF
Alex Bregman, 3B
Jose Altuve, 2B
Carlos Correa, SS
Marwin Gonzalez, 1B
Josh Reddick, LF
Evan Gattis, DH
Jake Marisnick, CF
Brian McCann, C

[A Boy Named Seo]

Nice to see Yo back in there. Lagares at .194/.256/.222 really has to get something going. Keith keeps saying he sees no change in his swing. Can't say I do either. Or if it's different, it's crappier.

This one's on MLB Network TV and WOR.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Adrian with another soft ground ball out, now back on the interstate at .195. Lagares hit one hard down the third base line, but Bregman made a nice play and threw him out, so he's at .189 now.

Speaking of things that look like shit, Matz was fine in the first, then gave up a solo HR by Correa followed by a double by Reddick in the 2nd. He got a K to end the inning before things got unruly. 1-nil Stros.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Matz settles down and racks up 9 K's through 6. Good job, young man.

[Edgy MD]

Leadoff dubble in the ninth.

Let's rally, you Mets!!

[Vic Sage]

no go. But Matz got 9 K/0 BB (5 hits)in 6 innings, throwing 90 pitches, so he's looking sharp.
Evans continues to hit, and A-Gon continues NOT to.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Vic Sage wrote: no go. But Matz got 9 K/0 BB (5 hits)in 6 innings, throwing 90 pitches, so he's looking sharp. Evans continues to hit, and A-Gon continues NOT to.

Largares had nothing to show for it, but at least hit a couple balls hard, even if they were on the ground. Gonzo just keeps hitting these sad, little grounders to the right side. 44 ABs isn't a ton, but he sure looks like crap.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Okay, so if they give up on Gonzalez, what would the plan be for first base? Lind? Alonso? Or a platoon between Flores and Bruce?

I think I'd go with Flores and Bruce.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I still think they'll give him a month or so of regular season baseball just to make sure.

[Ceetar]

I'll give Gonzalez some time in real games with real value.

And if he bombs, hopefully Smith is ready to go.

[Lefty Specialist]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I still think they'll give him a month or so of regular season baseball just to make sure.

This. Sandy doesn't like admitting to mistakes. And A-Gon has enough of a track record that maybe you give him a longer leash. But if it's May and he's hitting .150 with no power, they'll pull the ripcord.

Then you probably have a Flores/Smith platoon at first. I don't see Bruce playing there except in an emergency.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Okay, so if they give up on Gonzalez, what would the plan be for first base? Lind? Alonso? Or a platoon between Flores and Bruce? I think I'd go with Flores and Bruce.

I feel like at this point we could get Lind for just a few bucks more than Gonzalez, and his recent history is way better than I thought. If Gonzo is still crap towards the end of April and Lind is unemployed, I'd strongly consider him. Otherwise we'd need to see Dom destroying Vegas or Nimmo destroying the NL and forcing Bruce to first.